Criminal offenses against the environment: Criminal legislation of Serbia and international legal standards: In compliance or not?

Abstract

The issue of criminal offenses against the environment from the aspect of the criminal legislation of the Republic of Serbia and international legal standards - in this paper, their mutual compliance is expertly and critically analyzed through seven groups of questions, introductory considerations, and concluding remarks given at the end of the text. There are four groups of issues that the paper focuses on in terms of topicality and scope of research. These are issues concerning: Ecology and environmental protection in general (its importance, universality, and reasons for the necessity of protection; International legal standards of environmental protection; The legal framework for environmental protection in the Republic of Serbia - its constitutional and criminal law aspect; The analysis of the application of criminal law provisions on environmental protection in the practice of detecting and proving these criminal offenses within the territorial jurisdiction of the Appellate Court in Novi Sad. The professional and critical analysis of the issue in question has yielded three key results. Firstly, the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia recognizes the right to a healthy environment as one of the basic human rights and provides a good legal framework for the detailed regulation of this important issue. Secondly, the criminal legislation of the Republic of Serbia is largely aligned with international legal standards related to environmental crimes and provides an excellent basis for improved environmental protection. Thirdly, as with many other legally regulated spheres of life, the application of regulations in practice lags behind legal regulation. Finally, a multidisciplinary approach is necessary in resolving criminal cases of environmental crime, and specialized teams composed of judges, prosecutors, and police officers should be formed at higher courts and trained to handle such cases more adequately.